1. The Oakland City Council voted this week to reduce compost rates for restaurants and other businesses following an outcry over a new rate structure that made it cheaper to throw away food waste than to compost it, the Chron reports. Under the new plan, compost rates will become 30 percent lower than trash rates. The council also rejected a proposal to increase recycling rates by 10 percent. The request was made by Oakland’s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions, which claimed that the city had misrepresented the total number of homes it would have to serve.

5. In a victory for the California teachers’ union, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit backed by conservative groups that sought to limit the use of teachers’ union dues on political campaigns and causes, the LA Times$ reports. Anti-union activists plan to appeal the ruling.

6. A super-majority of Californians — 69 percent — supports raising cigarette taxes in the state, and a large majority — 55 percent — wants to reform Prop 13 to close a loophole that helps corporations avoid paying property taxes, the Bay Area News Group$ reports, citing a new Public Policy Institute of California survey. However, only a plurality of voters — 49 percent — favor extending Prop 30 taxes on the wealthy and taxing the extraction of fossil fuel in the state.